Pro-Moscow youth storm Ukraine regional HQ

Lina Kushch

Donetsk, Ukraine: Pro-Moscow youths recaptured the administrative headquarters of the eastern city of Donetsk and flew the Russian flag from its roof on Wednesday, hours after Kiev's authorities managed to fly their own flag there for the first time since Saturday.

Pro-Moscow demonstrators fly a Russian flag from the balcony of the regional administrative building in Donetsk in eastern Ukraine. Photo: AP

While the group of a few hundred pro-Moscow activists was recapturing the building, however, a far larger demonstration was gathering elsewhere in the city in favour of the authorities in Kiev, a sign that the tide of local opinion is turning against Moscow's allies in Ukraine's Russian-speaking heartland.

The pro-Moscow demonstrators, who once numbered more than 1000 but now appear reduced to a few hundred, first seized the regional administration building in deposed leader Viktor Yanukovych's home town on Monday. Ukrainian police persuaded them to leave on Wednesday after announcing a bomb threat in the building, and the Ukrainian flag was raised once they had left.

Their leader, a local businessman named Pavel Gubarev, calls himself the "people's governor" and has demanded that the regional police answer to his orders.

Protests

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Donetsk has seen the most persistent pro-Russian demonstrations in a wave of protests that erupted across southern and eastern cities on Saturday just as Russian President Vladimir Putin was declaring Moscow's right to invade.

Kiev says the protests were arranged by Moscow to provide a justification for a wide invasion. It notes that all followed a pattern broadly similar to one carried out in Crimea, where Russian troops quickly seized control.

In Crimea, the regional parliament was seized last Thursday by unidentified gunmen and a pro-Russian politician emerged saying lawmakers had voted behind closed doors to declare him the regional boss. Within 48 hours, Russian forces were in control.

On Saturday, protesters converged on regional capitals across the south and east of Ukraine and tried to raise Russian flags and hold closed-door legislative sessions, with varying degrees of success.

"We are determined to erect our people's power in the Donetsk region, and we will not retreat. We have huge support," Mr Gubarev said in front of the building on Wednesday before mounting an hours-long tussle to reclaim it from police.

Kiev's new government has named one of Ukraine's richest men, metal baron Sergei Taruta, as Donetsk regional governor, a sign that powerful oligarchs, many of whom once supported Mr Yanukovych, are now behind the new authorities.

Mr Taruta has yet to appear at the Donetsk government headquarters to take up the job in person. On Wednesday morning he was shown on television telling the Kiev cabinet by video link that the leadership of the police force needed changing because of "sabotage from the side of the security forces".

Regional police chief Roman Romanov announced he was stepping down for health reasons.

Backlash

Ukraine says it has not used force to safeguard the building in Donetsk to avoid violence that might provoke a Russian military response. Authorities have also acknowledged questions about the loyalty of some security forces.

Most Ukrainians in the east and south of the country speak Russian as a native language. Many are deeply suspicious of the new government in Kiev and some have supported the pro-Russian demonstrators.

However, the protests have also produced a backlash, especially after scores of people were injured in the city of Kharkiv by demonstrators wielding axe handles and chains who stormed and trashed the government building on Saturday, leaving it with a Russian flag flying.

On Tuesday evening about 1500 demonstrators marched in Donetsk waving Ukrainian flags and opposing Russian military intervention, the first time that pro-Kiev protesters outnumbered pro-Russian demonstrators in the city. Some carried placards reading: "I am Russian. Don't protect me."

Both sides have also scheduled large demonstrations for later on Wednesday in other eastern cities, meaning the day could provide an important signal of public opinion.